Taping over you
by BadWolf Writer
Summary: "That's right." The Doctor reassured his companion. "Just to be on the safe side though, I'll use my unrivaled knowledge of trans temporal extirpation methods to neutralize the residual electronic pattern." "You what?" She asked. The Doctor grinned. "I'm gonna tape over it." Rose met his smile equally. "Just leave it to me. I'm always doing that." Donna uncovers the long lost tape.


"We are having a movie night." Donna pointed her finger into the Timelord's chest.  
"Movies are boring and predictable." The Doctor argued. "Not to mention I've seen them all."  
"You dragged me through a mud infested, sludge planet, Space boy." Donna said forcefully. "We are having a nice, normal movie night."  
"That's so domestic." The Doctor wretched.  
"Shut it, Skinny." Donna warned. "Sit down on the couch."

The Doctor did as he was told. He sank into the couch munching loudly on popped corn. He would use his best pout, but he knew it would have no affect on Donna. Donna was perusing through his varied VHS tape collection. She claimed she would find the best movie, one he had never seen before. The Doctor didn't doubt the fiery woman would do her best.

"Space Fritters?" Donna quirked an eyebrow.  
"Good Movie. Seen it." The Doctor snapped without enthusiasm.  
"Frogs on Mars." Donna tried.  
"Nope." He said with a popped 'P'.  
"Velosalot veraminee freggs?" Donna stumbled out the title.  
"You couldn't understand a word of it." The Timelord sighed.  
"The Wire?" Donna asked warily.  
"What?" The Doctor sat up.  
"It's called The Wire." Donna said. "Home video by the looks of it."  
"I have never heard of it." The Doctor was amazed Donna had managed to accomplish her task.  
"Let's put it in!" Donna exclaimed.

The tape was inserted and the TV set. Donna sat next to the Doctor and hit play with her remote. The picture of a girl popped up. She had blond hair that swept to the side with a pink headband. She had a big bright smile where her tongue poked from behind her teeth. Donna thought she was beautiful in a strange way. She had a demeanor to her and a sparkle in her eye that only someone who has found meaning in their life could have. The Doctor let out a strange strangled cry.

The girl on the screen began to talk in a bright cockney accent, "Hello Doctah. I'm making this video to tape over the one we took today. I thought I'd make it a bit personal. I know you don't like movies, but maybe a future you will and you'll find this when I am long gone. You can have a bit of me forever, Doctor, just like I promised."

Donna paused the tape to look at the Doctor. His eyebrows were knit together, his bottom lip caught between his teeth, and his eyes wary. The Doctor thought back to the day the day had been made:

"Will it... that thing, is it trapped for good on video?" Rose asked nervously. As shaken up from the day's events she was, she was trying to stay strong for him.

"That's right." The Doctor reassured his companion. "Just to be on the safe side though, I'll use my unrivaled knowledge of trans temporal extirpation methods to neutralize the residual electronic pattern."  
"You what?" She asked.  
The Doctor grinned. "I'm gonna tape over it."  
Rose met his smile equally. "Just leave it to me. I'm always doing that."

So she had.  
"Rose." Donna said Softly.  
"Yeah." The Doctor acknowledged.

The Doctor waved for Donna to play the tape. He craved to hear Rose's final message, yearned to hear her voice again. He needed to see her smile one last time. Rose's face was etched into his hearts like all the humans he saw in a new body. She was his last and his first. She meant too much to brush this off as he would with so much. Sentimentality was a bit to domestic for him, but then again Rose had always brought out the domestic side in the Doctor.

"I want you to know that I love you." Rose continued on. "I don't know whether I have withered away like humans do or maybe I was lost, but, for whatever reason I am not with you, I want to make sure you know. I was boring for nineteen years and you turned me around in a matter of days. The past two years have been brilliant."

The Doctor was blinking away tears.

"I hope that we'll be together for a long time more." Rose said. Her eyes were swimming with emotions. "Y'know, the thought of losing you is more terrifying than Cybermen and Daleks combined."

Donna recognized the monsters the girl named. Both of them had been her downfall. She could imagine the blond, scared out of her mind by robots, but, ultimately terrified of losing her space boy. Donna knew she could never quite have that with the Doctor. Not after all that had happened to him. She could see the unspoken love swirling in his deep brown eyes, the

"I wasn't afraid today, when they took my face, not after you found me." Rose had tears streaking her face. "It was dark and silent but I could feel your presence. It made me feel safe. You make me feel safe. After all the bull you gave me about being dangerous, I still feel the most comfortable around you. You're working on the TARDIS now. We're trying to get to Elvis finally. I hope that works out for us."

The doctor chuckled a bit. He knew that they never made it to Elvis. Instead, they ended up on a planet where they were married. Not officially, Jackie would kill them, but him holding hands had been a cultural sign of marriage.

" We've just landed now," Rose let out a nervous laugh. "I best be going, Doctor. Future companion, if you're watching this, promise me something."

Donna listened intently.

"Promise me you'll hold his hand when you run, just to make him feel loved. Promise me you'll hug him tight when he's upset or happy, just to make it known that he isn't alone. Promise me you will sit up on late nights with him to keep away his nightmares that he denies having. He needs you more than even he knows. He needs someone to stop him, to keep him grounded. So, please, do that for me. Keep him well."

Donna slipped her hand into the Doctor's cold hand. She knew that the blond was right, the Timelord did need her. She wouldn't let him forget that.

"And, Doctor." Rose's head turned uncannily towards the Doctor on the couch as she quoted him. "If you wanna remember me, then you can do one thing. That's all, one thing. Have a good life. Do that for me, Doctor. Have a fantastic life. You're fantastic. You're the most beautiful man. Brilliant, and wonderful and absolutely fantastic."

The screen went black. The Doctor smiled grimly. He hoped that maybe the screen would flicker once more, and reveal to him Rose. He did not take his eyes from the tele.

"And you know what?" The Doctor asked the blank screen gently, "So were you, Rose Tyler. Fantastic."


End file.
